Research profile

Mette Mechlenborg has more than 20 years of experience with housing culture in a broad sense. She has expert knowledge of homes, homemaking, and everyday practices, with a particular focus on the relationship between ideals and materialization. She has published more than 100 works, including several books and peer-reviewed publications. She possesses deep insight into theories and concepts of place and is especially interested in how concepts, behaviors, and values within the field are embedded in different discourses.

Her research includes suburban housing, empty nesting, high-rise living, sustainable everyday practices, micro-homes, vulnerable housing, the gendered home, and more. She authored the PhD dissertation Around the Weber Grill on Danes’ preferred type of housing—the detached single-family home—as it appears in cultural consciousness (Cultural Studies, University of Southern Denmark, 2012), later published by an international publisher. She was for a number of years affiliated with the Center for Housing and Welfare/Center for Housing Research. She has also been a guest PhD researcher at the University of London and the Royal Danish Academy, School of Design.

In addition, Mette has extensive practical experience, including as Head of Advisory Services at the consultancy BARK (2012–2016) and as an independent consultant.

Since 2020, she has been a member of the Academic Council at the Faculty of Engineering, Aalborg University. From 2024, she is a member of the Committee for Equality and Diversity, Aalborg University.